Essential Design 
20 March 2025
Essential Design 
131

Bernhard Rohne

Cabinet

Mastercraft
USA, c. 1980
acid-etched, patinated, and enameled bronze, gilt wood 29¾ h × 78¼ w × 21½ d in (76 × 199 × 55 cm)
estimate: $3,000–4,000
result: $2,904
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Cabinet features six doors concealing three storage compartments.

This work will ship from Lambertville, New Jersey.

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Bernhard Rohne, a German-born artist active in Canada since the 1960s, evolved a singular calligraphic style which depended heavily on his unusual technique: Rohne painted with acid on sheets of brass. The works were completed by careful patination, revealing a gorgeous range of colors. The dramatically futuristic images Rohne created oscillate between depth and flatness, and though abstract, seem to convey the existence of an alternate, multi-dimensional reality. The jagged, Baroque structures, some apparently mechanical, others more geological, have a dynamic quality, as if they are moving in constant tension with each other. Dreamy, sometimes scary, and wonderful.

131